Azur Lane - Illustrious - Owaranai Ochakai ver. (Kotobukiya)

Today I’ll taking a look at ITEM #740175 the Illustrious class aircraft carrier Illustrious (look who’s got a whole class named after her) from Azur Lane. This figure is brought to us by Kotobukiya and is a rendition of her Endless Tea Party skin. And let me just say this if I had ever bought skins before I stopped playing this one would’ve been on the very top of my list. It’s just too beautiful to resist.

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The box already gives you a good impression of what’s inside with the huge front window that also covers part of the top. I love the dark blue they picked for the background as it goes well with the figure’s color-scheme while the bubbles and star effects give it a dreamy vibe. On the side we can find the artwork the figure is based on next to a cute rose-shaped window. The other side and back are adorned by the more beautiful promo pictures taken for this figure as they put her in a setting befitting a lady having tea. Meanwhile the bottom has all the usual warnings and product information that would’ve disturbed the design otherwise.
Since Illustrious comes with some additional parts she arrives with 2 blisters.

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As you can see the figure comes with 5 parts and funnily enough Illustrious herself can sit all by herself, without the included chair supporting her. Other than the chair her other parts include the teacup and saucer as well as the flight deck.
Kotobukiya also included an instruction sheet for her and while I do think the construction can be figured out easily enough, I still think it should be a bit more detailed where the chair and the ship part are concerned.

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Let's start with the chair, which is the closest to resembling a base for this figure (I won't count it as such though). The design is very intricate and delicate with a lot of floral parts adorning the back in particular. A chair like this may be found at a fancy café or teahouse or maybe in a mansion in the countryside (or so the image in my head tells me). Anyway, as pretty and well-made it is, it's also rather flimsy and light, so be careful handling it as it seems prone to breakage.
One side also has 2 clear plastic poles where the ship part gets attached but we'll get to that in a bit.

Next is the big ship part of this figure. Ofc they took some liberty with it as flight decks are usually neither blue nor curved and revolving around a chair, but well... The island superstructure makes it obvious that the ship parts weren't the main focus of this figure by looking very much like a cheap toy, but I won't pretend I care about that at this point. Here the flight deck also doubles as a tea table holding the tea pot. Contrary to the island the tea pot has some nice details both in sculpt and paint. The glossy finish gives it a porcelain-like look while the gold decorations set some nice accents.
Before you start attaching the ship parts to the chair be aware that there's a trick to it. you first slide the one on the arm rest in while positioning the other hole over the second pole. When you’ve done that you have to push it down on the peg.

The cup and saucer continue the fancy design of the tea pot, the cup even contains delicious looking tea. My only complaint here would be that you can clearly see how it was attached and how the plastic was processed, but I guess that’s hard to avoid with semi-transparent material.
Putting everything in place is fairly easy and the parts fit nicely. You just put the cup's handle around Illustrious's outstretched finger and adjust the cup until you're satisfied. The saucer meanwhile can just be slid between her fingers and voila.

To complete the assembly, we still need to sit her down on the chair, which is fairly easy as there are dents where she's supposed to sit. The chair's front legs will fit snuggly into the big creases in her dress and she'll sit fairly secure. Meanwhile the swirls at the end of the chair's front legs will be visible under her skirt. Illustrious’s butt won't completely cover the dents where she's meant to sit, but oh well...

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Spin around...

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Illustrious greets us with a calm and friendly look out of her deep blue eyes. The slightly open-mouthed smile and soft blush on her cheeks add a bit of cuteness. Yet the setting also makes her look elegant and sophisticated. I would’ve loved a bit of a glossy finish on her lips, but then again, it’s not really needed as she looks plenty beautiful (and shiny) already.

Her light hair is well-defined for the most part, you can clearly see her hair strands and her hair being pulled into her ponytail. The seams at the top of her head aren't exactly pretty though. I do like the light blue shading they added to her hair however.

Illustrious is wearing a very intricate flowery hair accessory. The dark blue rose contrasts nicely with the more turquoise-colored bits, the gold chain and bells. It's also nice that different kinds of finishes were used for the various parts. Sadly, there are some seams that haven't been properly sanded down on the turquoise flower and feathers, but it's nothing major (and I expected worse tbh). The whole thing is tied together by a dark blue, glimmering ribbon with gold trims.

Her ponytail is just as well-made as the rest of her hair, barring some little hiccups here and there.

There are also 2 braids tied by more floral accessories, but the paintjob on them is really wonky up close. Plus, the paint from the ties bleeds onto her hair.

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The thin neck holder straps of Illustrious's dress are covered by a similarly blue collar, with a light blue rose attached to it. Both look quite good, but they're kinda hidden in her hair's shadow most of the time.

Now, I know she is a very busty character, but I never liked that about her design, and I feel like they went beyond the original art to make Illustrious's chest even more balloon (the straps of her dress don't even touch her skin in some places). I guess there are folks who like that though and from her assumed display angle it doesn't look as bad, but... I don't really appreciate this unnatural look.
Yet the shading and shiny finish in her dress look fantastic and I'm actually impressed that there are no sculpting errors (they'd be immediately visible under that kind of finish after all).

On top of offering a very good view at her cleavage the back of her dress let's us admire her beautiful back. The shoulder blades and spine are really well-defined (almost too much actually) and a pleasure to look at.

Under her massive chest the dress is well-detailed with the additional flower, ribbons and bead chain. The purple ribbons and the gold trim look particularly nice as they contrast with the dress without disturbing the overall color-scheme.
The translucent pearls are another highlight imo.

It's really a mystery how this figure retains its classy vibe with Illustrious wearing a showy dress like this. The cut-out on her skirt is huge and we get an almost complete view of her legs (including the garters on her stockings). Plus, the creasing fabric hugs her body nicely. The shading and shiny finish serve amplify this impression manifold. The whole dress is actually so well-done that it leaves me speechless.
I also like how the skirt fits the pose and how nicely it's tucked between her chair and body.

In contrast to all the shininess Illustrious is wearing gloves with a matte finish, yet they feature a fine-looking color-gradient. Despite the realistic looking seams and the attempt at a lace trim I feel like they didn't pay as much attention here. The paint is a bit sloppy and the overall sculpt of her hands, while having some nice details, looks a bit clunky.

Now for the aforementioned stockings (and legs ofc)...
I actually like the figure being very shiny, but I think the stockings are a little too much (to the point that it doesn't look realistic anymore). The lacey garter and the shading do look great though and all the gloss really makes her legs stand out. I still wish they would've toned it down a bit. Well, this is just my personal opinion though, there are no actual flaws to be found here.
The look at Illustrious's legs also gives us the opportunity to look at the inside of her skirt, which is just as glossy as the stockings, much more so than the "outside" of the dress. Not sure why they did it, but it sure leaves an impression. What I really like though is the magnificent purple color transition.

This may sound mean, but this figure is the first I own with high heels that I consider remotely sexy. Most figures even if the characters wear heels have them in a very simple design or not as high, making them look too casual imo. These however are different.
Befitting the rest of the outfit they have a shiny finish with blue pearl decorations contrasting the deep purple. The heels thinning out at the tip also give them a sexy vibe and I'm impressed that Koto didn't mess up the small details on the straps.

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Last but not least some size comparisons...
With her sitting pose it didn't really make sense to measure Illustrious, so let's just put her next to some other figures to get a general idea. :3 Illustrious is a 1/7 (or so the listing says), but sitting poses often offer more opportunities when it comes to combining figures of different scales. Often times the height difference won't be immediately obvious. ITEM #549359 looks quite good next to her, despite being smaller and while ITEM #331483 is sitting as well, I feel with some clever placing they might make a good combination as well (even with Edna's smaller proportions).

Myethos's white rabbit is really big for (officially) being a 1/8 scale, but their themes somehow mesh nicely imo.

Standard-sized 1/7 figures like ITEM #287683 are no problem ofc, but you can go bigger than that if you want.

ITEM #464791 looks fairly nice next to Illustrious as they have an at least somewhat similar color-scheme (not to mention the classy look).

Another nice companion would be ITEM #645872 which is actually closer to a 1/6 scale. Both wear blueish flower hair accessories and I like the playful vibe Jeanne adds to the pair.

You'd think Illustrious only fits figures with similar color-schemes but going for contrasts is no problem. With the rose base and parasol ITEM #287579 looks unexpectedly nice next to her as well.

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I expected nothing much here since my last Koto figures were rather mediocre and then they pull this out of the blue. I've had half a mind to cancel Illustrious before and now I'm beyond glad I didn't. She is just that stunning. She has some small flaws ofc, but this is way, waaaaaay less than I expected and they're not as bad as usual either. I inspected her before doing the review and I didn't even notice most of them (my camera sure is mean). Anyway, I love her and I'm happy to add her to my collection. Yet, as with Prinz Eugen, there's still the issue of her being LE... I wish companies would stop doing this just to artificially increase the asking price, but I feel this practice is becoming more and more common. At least she didn't come with Koto exclusive parts this time, but still...

That's it for this review! Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! ^^
If you don’t mind, I’d love some constructive criticism,
but if you don’t feel like posting any your thoughts on the figure are also very welcome. :3
Also, if there's anything in my collection you'd like to see a review of feel free to shoot me a message or something.^^

victorviper (4 d. temu) #66830512I have only a passing familiarity with Azur Lane, so some of the issues you raised (like the figure being a little bit off-model, particularly in regard to her breast size) don't bother me too much, and this really quite an eye-catching figure.
I kind of like the shiny, shiny, and more shiny design, and the shiny blue dress does give her a very elegant feel!With her display angle it doesn't bother me all that much either but if you stare right at it they look just so massive and as if there were implants. I don't have a problem with the size perse, even if it's slightly off, but it bothers me how balloony they look. Other than that she is stunning.
Ever since ITEM #397027 I'm kinda into these shiny figures as well, as long as they're done well. :3

SebastianLover (4 d. temu) #66807102This figure is beautiful and is surprisingly stunning for Kotobukiya. I think they normally do a good job, but they don't normally have that wow factor that an Alter or Megahouse figure has. This is the first Koto figure I've seen that really wows me and makes me look twice. It still has some minor QC issues, but this is a big step up for Koto. Bravo! I just hope they don't raise their prices or make nearly every figure exclusive like Megahouse.She sure is and I sure hope it's a step in the right direction (at least for the limited+exclusive stuff). While I agree about Alter, my last 2 MH figures were way below average and while I do have some slight hopes left for their Ozymandias I won't hold my breath (the chan pictures so far weren't very promising).
Most if not all figures have some slight QC issues as they're mass-produced, compared to Koto's usual releases these are nothing. This is a really great figure and definitely worth its money imo. As for the prices... well, the Azur Lane figures are already pricier since they're LE and in general I feel even Koto raised the prices for their newest preorders.

winterstorm (4 d. temu) #66806375I actually liked the glossiness of her stockings which makes her seems different and stand out more from other figures that also have black stockings.
I'm also very impressed by the details of the figure and glad that koto seems to be improving in terms of quality as I also own the previous azur lane figures made by them except akagi(missed her pre-order period and now her after market prices has skyrocketed for some reason)
Thanks for the detailed review as always .ps. Are you planning to get the centaur figure ITEM #758067 ? Would like to see a review on that tooYou're welcome. :3
That's ofc a matter of taste and while I agree on the glossiness making her stand out it's only that, the shading in and of itself isn't particularly special.
I wouldn't go as far as to say they're improving, their Prinz Eugen was the usual fare after all, but I sure hope they do. From what I've seen of the other AL figures they're not better or worse as what Koto's normal releases so far.
I won't be getting Centaur, she doesn't fit in with the rest of my collection, because her ship parts are more prominent.^^"

I have only a passing familiarity with Azur Lane, so some of the issues you raised (like the figure being a little bit off-model, particularly in regard to her breast size) don't bother me too much, and this really quite an eye-catching figure.

I kind of like the shiny, shiny, and more shiny design, and the shiny blue dress does give her a very elegant feel!

This figure is beautiful and is surprisingly stunning for Kotobukiya. I think they normally do a good job, but they don't normally have that wow factor that an Alter or Megahouse figure has. This is the first Koto figure I've seen that really wows me and makes me look twice. It still has some minor QC issues, but this is a big step up for Koto. Bravo! I just hope they don't raise their prices or make nearly every figure exclusive like Megahouse.

I actually liked the glossiness of her stockings which makes her seems different and stand out more from other figures that also have black stockings.

I'm also very impressed by the details of the figure and glad that koto seems to be improving in terms of quality as I also own the previous azur lane figures made by them except akagi(missed her pre-order period and now her after market prices has skyrocketed for some reason)

Thanks for the detailed review as always .ps. Are you planning to get the centaur figure ITEM #758067 ? Would like to see a review on that too